Let’s go to the peroration, the recapitulation that echos earlier themes: Sovereignty, Military Courage, Victory in Europe in WWII, Capitalism good- Socialism evil, and the words of President Truman, now an iconic president who left office with the lowest public approval in history.
Here’s Trump’s encapsulation of the Victory in Europe:
In remembering the great victory that led to this body's founding, we must never forget that those heroes who fought against evil also fought for the nations that they loved.
Patriotism led the Poles to die to save Poland, the French to fight for a free France, and the Brits to stand strong for Britain.
Today, if we do not invest ourselves, our hearts, and our minds in our nations, if we will not build strong families, safe communities, and healthy societies for ourselves, no one can do it for us.
As if those diplomats in the audience were not aware that the country that bore the greatest sacrifice in deaths and destruction, had it not brought to bear it’s military and industrial might would have allowed victory of the Axis forces, was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. If this communist empire had not been united under a dictatorship, bound by an ideology that ultimately failed, the individual sovereign countries, similar to the states of the U.S.A. could not have prevented Hitler from a degree of success in his goal of “lebensruam” Nazism may not have won, but it would not have been utterly destroyed without the USSR.
Trump’s lauding of “sovereignty” betrays his ignorance of the very country whose government he now heads. Our constitution, that he lauded in the beginning of his speech, was one of an association that was closer to today’s U.N. than the country that it is now. These were sovereign states that had formed a limited association, that only was on the path to unification after a cathartic war between the states that began the process where his favored concept “sovereign” applies to the nation rather than the separate states.
And to close , (as many will want to write about this speech) I chose one more theme that is devoid of coherence
In Saudi Arabia early last year, I was greatly honored to address the leaders of more than 50 Arab and Muslim nations. We agreed that all responsible nations must work together to confront terrorists and the Islamist extremism that inspires them.
We will stop radical Islamic terrorism because we cannot allow it to tear up our nation, and indeed to tear up the entire world.
We must deny the terrorists safe haven, transit, funding, and any form of support for their vile and sinister ideology. We must drive them out of our nations. It is time to expose and hold responsible those countries who support and finance terror groups like al Qaeda, Hezbollah, the Taliban and others that slaughter innocent people.
“Saudi Arabia...responsible nation...confront …terrorism….al Qaeda” Does he think he is speaking to his low information cohort at one of his rallies? While this time the speech was obviously professionally written, it was still representative of this individual, who possesses a minuscule grasp of government, history and international forces. This tragic failing in a person with this power was more ominous in this well written speech than his spontaneous interviews and tweets. These only show a lack of self control, as an individual with tourette syndrome, whose spontaneous outbursts would be seen as a neurological spasm.
This speech, now said to be written by Steve Miller, was certainly open to comments by his closest advisors, meaning top cabinet members including Defense Secretary James Mattis and his National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster. This was not the work of a single individual but that of the office of the President of the United States. His exact words therefore have more ominous meaning:
The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary. That’s what the United Nations is all about; that’s what the United Nations is for. Let’s see how they do.
This classic sable rattling is punctuated by his obvious pleasure in his planned restructuring the national July 4th celebration into a Soviet style display of armaments. His use of the cartoon name for Kim Jon Un, is not only a personal affront, but makes the U.S. nuclear arsenal into an extension of him as an individual. This time he will not be killing a single individual on busy Fifth Avenue, but millions of anonymous Koreans both North and South of the demilitarized zone, whom he does not even mention as the result of his “destroying Kim and his regime."
We, and the world, are in more trouble than we previously imagined.